----- 27 Years Later -----
Date: April, 2721
Location: Tharkad
Title: Destiny’s Call
Author: Loren L. Coleman
Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)
Synopsis: 20-year-old Alek Kerensky studies history and political science Tharkad University, mentored by his friend, Michael Steiner II, a researcher there. The story opens as Kerensky recovers from a beating administered by some of the Lyran-national cadets, who resent Alek’s skills and Terran origins. Alek refuses to divulge the identity of his attackers to Michael, and returns to his classes.
The “unnamed attackers” were led by Elias Luvon – a good warrior, but one whose weak academics are only overlooked on account of his father’s generous donations to the university. Alek notes his surprise when Alek shows no weakness following the beating…at least until he collapses into a three-day coma from a cerebral hemorrhage in the midst of a discussion of the Davion-Kurita succession crisis.
When Alek recovers, he’s interviewed by Colonel Baumgarten, commandant at the Nagelring, who invites him to transfer to the SLDF academy. Alek refuses, earning the disappointment of the commandant and further ire from Elias Luvon, who is also a cadet at the Nagelring. Within a few days, Luvon turns most of the rest of the student body against him, intimating that he feels that he’s “too good” for the non-Terran academy. The only people who’ll give him the time of day are Michael and fellow classmate Gabriella Bailey. She invites him to take her to the Spring Reception, the biggest social event of the year at Tharkad University.
During exams, Alek is disgraced as Elias Luvon plants a wireless transmitter under Kerensky’s desk, making it appear he was using it to cheat. An academic review clears him of having cheated, freeing him to continue at the University and attend the Spring Reception that night. (He gets full marks after a debate over the ronin attacks backtracks to Leonard Kurita, and it dawns on Professor Kleppinger that he’s talking to Tanya Kerensky’s descendant.)
At the reception, Alek dances with Gabriella and finds out that Col. Baumgarten ordered the academic review that allowed Alek to exonerate himself. He faces down Elias Luvon and takes Gabriella outside to watch the stars. However, as they move towards their first kiss in a secluded courtyard, Alek is attacked by Elias and three of his cronies. Alek simply takes the beating (and the broken ribs) and continues to calmly debate Luvon, but when the Nagelring cadet threatens to ruin Gabriella’s reputation, Alek lunges at Elias, sending him toppling over a ledge. He lands badly, impaled on his own dress saber, but survives (though he is subseqently expelled from the Nagelring).
Alek tells Commandant Baumgarten that he’s changed his mind, and would like to transfer to the Nagelring. He feels that if he was unable to restrain himself from fighting to defend himself and Gabriella, then he should learn how to fight correctly. The commandant replies that he cannot refuse Alek, given the special status conferred on Tanya Kerensky’s descendants.
Notes: Elias Luvon’s attitude showcases a substantial level of resentment within the Star League, as Royal units get preferential treatment, and places like Sandhurst on Terra are seen as far more prestigious than institutions such as the Nagelring, despite both being top level SLDF academies.
Current events in the Sphere are referenced – the Kurita-Davion succession debate, the launch of the Terran Hegemony’s prototype SDS, and the legal changes that permitted Inner Sphere companies to run rampant in Periphery states.
It’s interesting to see the greatest general in the history of the Inner Sphere as a bookish pacifist who works enough historical and literary quotations into his conversations to put a hardcore Blakist to shame.
The datestamp of the story is just 2721. One would assume that the “Spring Reception” would be in Tharkad’s spring season, but previous stories have placed Tharkan summer in January and Tharkan winter in March, so the date in question now is up in the air. (One strong possibility is that Tharkad’s seasonal cycles don’t correspond to a 12-month calendar, so winter might be in March one year and in October the next.)
[Update: Further research indicates that Tharkad is on a "nearly two year" cycle, leading to lengthy seasons. Assuming a five month season, if winter is January-May in 2800, the next one would will be September-January of 2801-2802.] If it’s an annual event, it’s probably named according to Terran cycles – putting it in April-June. However, at one point, it’s mentioned that Kerensky has spent 18 months on Tharkad. If the TU term starts in September like most Terran universities, that would place the Spring Reception in late March or early April 2721.
The names of the characters in the story are a veritable who’s who of ancestors of main characters in the 31st century fiction. Luvon’s descendant Arthur married Michael’s descendant Katrina and gave birth to Melissa and thence the Steiner-Davion line. Nagelring cadet Patrick Ward is likely an ancestor of both Phelan Kell and the whole Ward bloodname house. And Kerensky, of course, is a distant ancestor of Natasha, Ulric, Ranna, Anastasia and the rest of the Kerensky Bloodname. (See the trope:
Everyone went to school together)